Politicians across Southeast Asia have called for the rescue of up to 200 Rohingya refugees who are onboard a boat which has been stranded in one of the world's busiest shipping routes since November.
The vessel was spotted in the Andaman Sea, close to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and India.
It is not known where it came from, or where it is now.
Thousands of the mostly Muslim Rohingya, who are persecuted in Myanmar, risk their lives each year trying to reach Malaysia or Indonesia in unsafe vessels.
"It is disgraceful that a boat filled with men, women, and children in grave danger has been allowed to remain adrift", an former Indonesian MP, Eva Sundari, said on behalf of a regional advocacy group.
"We urgently call on ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member states and other countries in the region to... launch search and rescue operations," she added.
Charles Santiago, a fellow advocate and former Malaysian MP, said that the delay in rescuing the stranded refugees "has already caused untold suffering and loss of life".
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said last week that the boat has been in waters since late November, and it had received reports of at least a dozen people dying on board.
Those remaining had no access to food or water, it said.
One person said that a relative of theirs hoping to reach Malaysia had been taken to the boat in deep waters by a small fishing trawler from Bangladesh.
Dire conditions
Sprawling camps in Bangladesh are home to around one million Rohingya, many of whom fled neighbouring Myanmar after a 2017 military crackdown, which the United Nations found included widespread reports of rape, arson and killings.
The dire conditions in the overcrowded camps have forced many to flee again.
Noor Habi, a Rohingya who lives in the refugee camp in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, said her 23-year-old daughter Munuwara Begum was on the stranded boat.
"We are in danger. Please save us," Begum appealed in a conversation on walkie talkie. "There is no food and water with us and there is no one to save us from this drowning boat."
On December 8, more than 150 Rohingya were rescued near the Thai coast from a waterlogged boat on its way to Indonesia from a refugee camp in Bangladesh, according to the Myanmar junta.
